Present

Were you strong enough to face him now? Will everything go back to the way it used to be?

You took a wary step forward. From behind, Donghae still looked about the same as you last saw him although his hair was different, longer, and his shoulders broader. You took a deep breath and absorbed the difference of it all. Not just him, but the feel in the air.

They sat at the café where you last saw him, 5 years ago. You hold back the memories that threatened to wash over you. After all, that’s why you left him in the first place, to forget all the bad memories.

You took a final deep breath and stepped forwards.

Eunhyuk watched you make your way to the table behind Donghae. Donghae himself wasn’t paying attention. He was too busy drinking his coffee.

‘Y’know…’ Eunhyuk began then stopped, gaining Donghae’s attention.

‘What?’ Donghae asked quizzically.

‘Er…’ Eunhyuk began, watching ‘something’ behind Donghae’s back distractedly.

Donghae turned but saw nothing. You bowed your head and smiled at his lack of observation. Eunhyuk watched his friend with surprise on his face. He wiped it off quickly and smiled in amusement. Donghae cast his friend a confused face. He turned around again, this time observing everything behind him carefully, traffic, people, buildings, more customers, lamp-post, flowers, tables and chairs. There was nothing out of place or out of the ordinary.

But something did catch his eye, or, rather, someone.

A girl wearing sunglasses watched him as he stared at her. Her familiarity, her presence seemed out of the ordinary. And then he noticed that amused smile. Just like…

He stood up dumbfounded as you laughed in amusement. You pulled your sunglasses off and stood up, he had already crossed the metres of space between you and pulled you in a tight hug.

‘Yah! Where have you been?!’ he yelled as he pulled you away at arm’s length and pulled you in another tight embrace.

You giggled. ‘Donghae-ah,’ you finally said.

‘You… you…’ he began, ‘Babo.’ He tightened his hold on you.

‘H-Hae, c-can’t… breath,’ you struggled. He finally let go.

Eunhyuk stood up chuckling, ‘Well, I’ll leave you two alone to catch up,’ he said with a smile.

After another long moment of dumbfounded greetings, the two of you sat down.

‘How-? Where-?’ he began, deciding which question to ask first, ‘When did you get back?’ he finally asked.

‘Yesterday, I, er, my brother picked me up,’ you told him with a sheepish smile.

‘Are you-? How are you?’ he asked with a relaxed smile.

‘I’m… I could be better,’ you told him. The awkwardness still seemed to be hanging in the air. You glanced at him, he opened his mouth to inquire but you explained quickly. ‘Father’s ill. My brother called for me to come and see him before we fear the worst.’

‘I’m sorry to hear,’ he said sadly. ‘I hope uncle gets better.’

‘Hm…’ you acknowledged. ‘Anyway, how have you been?’ you asked brightly with a smile.

‘Oh, er… I… could be better,’ he replied with a glance at you.

‘You missed me, huh?’ you teased.

He kept his gaze away but smiled amusedly. Without warning he leaned close to you.

‘Shall we go cheer ourselves up?’ he grinned.

And unknowingly, you smiled at the joy of finding your old friend.

He had stood up and began to walk away. You stood and pouted, staring after his departing figure, when he turned around with a bright smile.

‘Aren’t you coming?’ he asked.

You grabbed your belongings and followed after him quickly. He grabbed your hand and pulled you along.

‘Where are we going?’ you asked him as he started the engine to his car.

‘Just don’t sleep out on me,’ he told abstractly.

You frowned, confused by his answer but asked no more question, until you drove out of the city heading west.

‘Hae! Where are you taking me?’ you yelled as you drove past countryside.

He laughed. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t do anything bad to you,’ he chuckled.

Despite his words, your eyes widened and watched him in disbelief.

After a couple of hours, you found yourself staring at the beautiful sea, glittering beautifully in it hues of oceanic colours. You admired it as he drove past, the presence of people began appearing as you drove closer to a coastal theme park.

‘Hey, haven’t we been here before?’ you asked. The more you stared at the scene, the more it seemed to imprint a more vivid image of a faded memory.

‘Yep.’

He parked the car and unbuckled his seatbelt. Noticing his action, you took yours off too and got out of the car.

‘C’mon,’ he exclaimed excitedly. You watched him bounce up and down in enthusiasm, his eyes alight with excitement. He offered his hand out to you this time.

You looked at it hesitantly, and for a moment, you thought you saw disappointment on his face as you looked back at it. You smiled and took his hand.

He ran, dragging you along.

‘Donghae!’ you laughed, ‘you’re too excited for a grown man.’

‘Just for today, let’s be kids again,’ he asked, turning to you with the sincerest look.

‘O-okay,’ you replied, lost in his gaze.

He smiled and carried on pulling you along.

He paid for your entrance, despite your objections.

That afternoon was followed by a beautiful evening. After riding as much rides as you possibly can, both of you decided to skip a meal and fill yourselves with snacks instead, sharing popcorns and cotton candy.

You sat on the grass bank and watched the water-dances, accompanied by multi coloured lights. The kids in front of you were gasping in awe and wonder as the water-dances were replaced by thousands of glowing orbs appearing on the edge of the small man-made lake. You and Donghae exchanged looks and grinned. It seemed like a lifetime ago that you were like those kids.

After the magical finished, the day had become increasingly darker, and families were replaced by young couples.

‘Here,’ Donghae said as he put a coat over your shoulders.

Taken aback all you could do was stutter until an old couple walked past with their worn-out grandchildren.

‘Halmhuni, if today were a fairytale, I’m going to find my prince here and make him propose to me,’ the sleepy little girl mumbled.

‘Those fireworks were magical weren’t they?’ the wizened woman turned to you as she helped her husband carry the young girl.

‘Ah, n-neh,’ you replied in awe of the little girl. You and Donghae both bowed as the woman greeted you a goodnight and took hold of her grandson’s hand and left.

You turned to Donghae and giggled. He smiled back and took hold of your hand again.

‘Shall we get our fortunes?’ he asked as he paused in front of a strange garden.

‘Woah!’ you gasped as you eyed the garden.

He pulled you along as and both of you descended a footpath through the foliage. Hanging amongst the trees lanterns glowed, supported by the twinkling of unknown lights. Displays of inanimate magical beings hung and hid in the trees. The low branch you passed by with Donghae carried a small fairy peeking from behind a leaf. You tightened your hold on Donghae’s hand as you saw the lake shimmering with the reflection of the light from the garden.

‘Wooaah, Donghae, it’s so pretty,’ you said, holding onto his arm with your other hand and making him stop to admire the view. He didn’t say anything but smiled. You looked at him but he looked away. You frowned and shook it. Who really knows what goes on in a guy’s mind?

You carried on watching the scenery, missing the moment Donghae closed his eyes and made a wish.

‘C’mon,’ he said, lightly pulling on your arm after a while.

You followed and came to a stall that displayed the largest collection of bottles you have ever seen.

‘Eh? I thought we’re going to a fortune-teller’s?’ you asked confused.

‘Hm…’ he said, observing a message engraved on the edge of the wooden counter, ‘It just says to take one and open it. “Fate tells the Fortune”.’

You read the engravings as well and decided to follow anyway.

You and Donghae both picked. Yours was a deep ocean blue, Donghae’s favourite colour. His was a glowing orange, your favourite colour.

‘Ready?’ he asked.

You nodded and both of you proceeded to lifting the cork off the bottle. As you tipped the bottle to access the rolled paper inside, a stream of golden glitter poured onto your hand and blew their way towards the lake. Finally you accessed the paper and unrolled it.

After much pain and suffering, a fairytale will blossom with the person you stand before.

A lump had risen in your throat and you swallowed it away.

How peculiar. You looked up to Donghae who wore a struck expression. He folded his paper quickly and pocketed it. Putting the glass vials back, you and he made your way out, still in thought about your fortunes.

Not bothering to hold hands anymore both of you followed each other to the car park and made you way home. He dropped you off at the train station, making sure you were on the train before leaving.

You hit your head when you remembered you were supposed to ask for his new number.